All those loved and lost
by xrd
Summary: Paranormal investigators end up searching the local pizzeria, but sometimes people just shouldn't meddle...
1. Cry for help

When Aiden was first getting into the job, he seemed almost impossibly skeptical of the entire profession and almost believed that anyone who got into it was out of their minds. All he seemed to do was visit people whose coaster had fallen of the table due to imbalance and their paranoia had gotten the best of them. So his working day mostly consisted of performing some strange rituals that he got off newspaper clippings to calm strangers peace of mind, at least he was getting paid…

Though the longer he visited these households, the more he saw things that he couldn't quite explain with just someone was too uncomfortable with existence or a misplaced coaster. In fact, somethings he saw in this profession were unbelievably bizarre that he started to question the possibility of things going on where we couldn't see them.

This was also the time that the local child friendly pizza chain was under a lot of scrutiny from the community and the police. Aiden didn't really like the place anyway, but that is mostly due to him not liking kids in general. This place however was desperately hanging on to the "child friendly" name it had made for itself, as the disappearances were plastered all over the news, all of which could be traced back to the establishment, though there was never enough evidence to blame the building itself.

It was early Monday morning that Aiden received the phone call politely yet seriously requesting his services. The robots themselves were having difficulties, as almost out of nowhere they became blank and apathetic to any adults that passed them by, especially the staff members themselves. They reported that no amount of tweaking could fix the bug; in fact none of the wiring had even shifted so it was practically impossible for them to be acting this way in the first place.

Aiden agreed to come in later, around eight 'o'clock so it could be guaranteed there was no one in the building and he wouldn't disturb the kids. Also, this gave him time to talk to his wife that was currently on a month-long business trip in London.

When the time actually came around, he walked up to the building, it seemed ever so slightly run down from the outside, which was expected as the business was bound to be falling with all these rumors surrounding missing children and the robots acting strange around the adults. Aiden thought to his self that if he was a parent this would be the last place he would want to bring his child.

There were three other people waiting outside the front door. The younger looking man introduced himself as Sean, then explained that he was here to offer back up if any was needed.

Sean was a bit shorter than Aiden and had a more childish looking face. In front of him stood a little girl around the ages of 9 to 10, they both had very dark ginger hair, green eyes, and freckles though hers were slightly more prominent that Sean's, which led Aiden to believe they were related.

The third person had quite short blond hair which was combed back quite a lot and it was obvious he was using some sort of gel. He introduced himself as the manager of the building and led them all inside; the building was fairly dark due to lights having been shut off for the night, though he gave them very powerful torches as it saved electricity for the building which was a necessity at times of low money. The manager also gave them a tour of the building as well as a map as it was their first time and he didn't want them not knowing where everything was.

Once the manager was done explaining, he gave Sean keys to the front door and was about to leave.

"Make sure you get those robots fixed up, I am counting on you." He stated before leaving out the door

This was the time Aiden turned to Sean in disgust.

"Why did you bring a little kid here?" He interrogated "If we do actually find anything dangerous here then she is going to be in danger…"

Sean looked taken aback for a second though came back for his defense.

"Dude, didn't you even listen to what they said? The robots are acting strange and blank towards the adults, so why do you think we are any different? If there are any problems with her being here the robots would act strangely with all the children."

"Yeah but it's dark and you don't know if she is going to be in danger…" Aiden argued back.

The young girl piped up with a melancholy tone in her voice.

"My best friend disappeared here a year ago; don't think I would be here if I didn't want to be."

Aiden sighed in defeat.

"Alright kid, what's your name."

"Madilyn" She replied

The three seemed at ease with each other now, and started to explore the building for themselves. Maddie knew the way around the main party areas as she used to be a regular.

"Man, these robots really are creepy up close." Aiden commented while peering up at the mechanical suits on stage, looking down at him with emotionless eyes, "It's like they are staring at us."

"Maybe they are…" Sean said with a slightly jokey tone.

"Shouldn't we… do some rituals or something?" Aiden questioned, unsure about the situation.

"Not until there is some tangible proof that there is any danger."

The three pondered at the stage for about another minute before Madilyn became aware of a rather music like noise coming from the room behind them. Wandering in, there was a large present like box, which seemed to be the source of the noise. The walls were covered in scrawls that looked like they were done in 5 minutes with a crayon; on the floor there was a large robot that look too out of repair to even be functional.

"What do you think happened to this guy?" Sean smirked

"Looks like the kids couldn't keep their hands to themselves." Aiden replied while gesturing his torch towards the picture of the kids with bits of the toy fox in their hands.

"Yeah, you can take foxy apart and put her back together again." Maddie joined in "I don't know why it got tangled with another skeleton though, that's weird."

…

There was a shifting noise coming from inside the box.

"Hey, Maddie, what is inside there?" Aiden asked cautiously.

"Oh, you mean in the box? It's a doll person that comes out on birthdays and gives gifts to the guests; I think her name is Mary." She replied somewhat cheerfully

"Wasn't there a music playing when we came in here?" Sean asked

"Oh, yeah, it probably shut off due to everything else being off and all." Aiden replied sarcastically

"Why didn't it shut off with everything else then?"

Aiden held his tongue, and edged slowly towards the box.

There was another movement.

Aiden slowly took off the lid of box, and just like Maddie said there was a doll there. It was curled up in the fetal position; it wore a mask similar to those found in theaters with purple streaks down its cheeks. It seemed to twitch ever so slightly though Aiden didn't notice, until it jerked its head unnaturally and made eye contact.

Aiden jumped back screaming with fright.

"It… ugh... ah… moved." He barely managed to gasp

By this time its hand was already hanging over the side of the box. Sean nudged Maddie forward and whispered.

"He's not going to hurt you."

Maddie stood in place while the head seemed to rise above the box, this time directly locking eyes with her instead of Aiden. She was terrified and began to shake and cry, though rooted to the spot. The puppet looked almost sympathetic in the way it stared at her. It picked up an empty head of Freddy's, before what seemed to be falling out of the box and laying on the ground before making its way over to her with unnatural and jagged movements. She stepped back and it immediately stopped advancing. It moved its hand out to her in a somewhat welcoming manner, and she hesitantly returned the gesture.

It tilted its head at the touch, then slowly moved closer and wrapped its arms around her back, performing what looked like a heartfelt embrace. It didn't stop until her crying ended, before gently picking up the Freddy head in an attempted to place it over her own.

Aiden stepped forward then in anger, and hit the head out of the dolls hands as he knew it would be dangerous for her, then proceeded to shield her with his body.

The puppet seized up and began to make a low guttural moaning sound that sounded slightly demonic, slightly robotic, and not at all human. It looked directly at Aiden again, this time causing him to grip his head in pain, he felt ringing in his ears and wasn't sure he couldn't stand up for much longer. As he was passing out he swore he could see…

* * *

 _What? Why am I outside the pizzeria? Why is it daytime? Why am I so scared?_

 _I peered through the window; it looked like a birthday party…_

 _From up the road, I heard a car coming, that isn't strange right?_

 _Someone got out, I… I… couldn't tell what he looked like he… uh… I couldn't look at him directly._

 _He was coming this way, what do I do, is there anything to do?_

 _He is coming really close, too close. He seemed to let out a small chuckle before placing both his hands on my shoulders. I looked up before I felt the air stop as the hands moved to around my neck. I gagged and looked up in terror at the grinning face, the lack of oxygen was making me so dizzy and I… couldn't stand up._

 _He let me down to the ground before tightening his grip in an almost wringing motion, I could feel the cold damp pavement on my back. I tried to push away but I don't remember my arms being this small and weak, he wasn't even fazed at all. Tears were streaming down my face as I desperately gasped for oxygen, my entire body hurt._

 _Please… stop… why?_

 _It didn't stop, it felt like reality was shrinking and slipping away, like I was falling. The pressure faded after what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't move at all anymore, I saw something bright, and then I couldn't see anything._

* * *

Aiden awoke hyperventilating clutching his chest. Thoughts were racing through his head about what he just… saw?

The puppet was curled up in the corner, not moving at all.

"I… I can breathe… what was that?" He gasped barely able to speak

Sean touched his should sympathetically.

"What was what? What happened?" He asked

"I don't know but can we please, please leave…"

They shared a subtle nod before quickly hurrying out of the building and locking the door on the way out…


	2. Bad dream

The car journey home was a very quiet one to say the least, no one seemed to want to talk about what happened at all, and the drive was solemn and tense. The events that took place there were far worse than anything he experienced throughout this entire profession. He couldn't stop his body from severely shaking and the atmosphere felt too cold to calm down.

He couldn't stray away from the thoughts of what he saw and could barely even comprehend what happened. That man's smile, his hands… and the pain that came along with that was all too sinister and he didn't know how to feel. Was that death?

The only time anyone said anything to each other was when Sean parked up at the petrol station in order to top up the car.

"Hey, err…" Sean spoke while looking over at Aiden "Are you ok? Whatever was happening with that puppet is not right and we should go and talk to the manager about coming back, it was just staring at you, then you toppled like a marionette yourself and woke up a few minutes later acting like you've been to hell and back."

He paused for a moment.

"Did you see anything? You woke up surprised that you could breathe, and then asked what something was."

"I… there was someone who…" Aiden stuttered before the memories became a bit too harsh "I think I need some sleep."

"You are welcome to stay over at ours tonight, it's not great but there is a pull-out couch that I could set you up with, if you don't mind a bit of mess of course."

"Yes please." He humbly accepted as at that moment in time, going back to that empty apartment sounded unbearable.

"You're really shook up huh? Oh well, glad to be of assistance." He added before exiting the car to go fill up the tank. Maddie was resting her head on the side of the door and obviously trying to go to sleep, though her expression looked grim. Aiden thought to himself that the way the doll was behaving must have been very shocking for her, and it was obvious she doesn't do things like that often. He wanted to talk to her about it though she looked like she needed her rest.

Sean took about 5 minutes filling up the vehicle and visiting the gas station to pay, and ended up coming back with a packet of biscuits for his daughter, though she was already fast asleep by then, so he joked it would be a surprise breakfast. The three drove back to Sean's house, and he carried the sleeping girl to her room before setting up the bed for Aiden and eventually going to sleep himself.

* * *

The night was horrible, the noises and temperature were always strange, and no matter how much Aiden tossed and turned he could not feel comfortable. Thinking back to what happened, if something is really haunting that place, was it trying to show him why? The time of day was very different, and his body felt too weak under the hands of the man he could never quite distinguish as being anything.

Putrid thoughts crept into his brain as he clasped his forehead in his hands. Were those the memories of a child? It wouldn't be too unbelievable as the building were meant for children, but who would strangle a child to death in broad daylight for no reason?

He gently touched his own necked and to his horror felt two bruises that must have formed on the way home. He gulped and held his forehead in his hands before beginning to hyperventilate. Something bad happened to someone there and that puppet knew something about it, were its actions trying to protect Maddie instead of hurting her?

Whatever it was, he knew he needed to go back there and help, no matter what.


	3. Followed

When morning came around, it seemed like the entire house flew into chaos. Aiden only managed to scrape 4 hours sleep that was highly interrupted due to the gripping paranoia that loomed over him.

Sean seemed slightly tired too as he was scurrying about getting Maddie's uniform ready to go to school. She seemed a bit more cheerful than last night, though Aiden thought it would be surprising if she was completely unaffected, especially since her friend who vanished was last seen there. Did he see her friend's memories? He sputtered on his cereal thinking about that horrifying idea, and tried his best to push it to the back of his mind.

Several voicemails and calls had been made during the night that littered Aiden's mobile. He seemed apathetic when going through them, as his tiredness was making it difficult to concentrate. The majority were from his wife who was expecting a call from him, and the messages got slightly more worried and agitated throughout, though considering how scared he was, having a calm conversation would be difficult.

The last phone call had been made at 6am, and was a very serious and strong message by the manager saying they were hired to fix the robots and nothing had been done, and he wanted an explanation immediately, and were to come in at 5pm to discuss.

Sean noticed how aloof Aiden was acting and wanted to spare a talk, though at that time he had to go straight out of the door. They both left while Maddie was skipping and singing a song.

Now alone, Aiden stood around for a while inspecting the house. It was fairly small, typical for a family of two. He wondered for a moment if there was a mother on the scene but the thought was cut short when he realized he had to go to his side job at the hospital very soon. Feeling drained before he even walked out the door, he borrowed some of Sean's clothes and left for the day.

It was on his way walking there that he first saw it. It was only for a split second out the corner of his eye, but he saw the puppet. Not as he saw it in the restaurant, no, this one was seemed so much more sinister. He couldn't even look at it properly without it fleeing from his vision. It seemed to continue all day, and he tried to compose himself as much as he could, that doll was always there. Part of him thought that the lack of sleep was only meddling with his perception, though at points during the day he felt like he was slipping into madness, like he wasn't really himself.

He made an effort to cover up the markings on his neck that only seemed to get worse throughout the day, was he being punished for meddling or only being asked for help? Aiden became so lost and confused at a point that he took himself off to the bathroom to cry and get his head clear.

"What do you want?" He sputtered meekly and desperately in the confines of the small restroom. Frantically wiping away tears that just wouldn't stop.

Raising his head ever so slightly he caught a glimpse of what looked like a person, a child. Aiden jumped back in fear and quickly began to made his way over to the door, the boy's eyes followed him as he moved. He checked the handle and it was locked like he remembered, and cursed under his breathe feeling less and less in control with each second.

With hesitance, he turned back to the person standing there, unlike the visions this one didn't shift or move and Aiden could look directly at him. Not being able to control his breathing, the man took a moment to inspect him for a while. The figure seemed ever so slightly slumped over, and its eyes looked droopy and solemn and face damp with presumably tears.

The sudden stabbing pains in his forehead grew too large at that point and he could no longer look at the figure directly, he hurriedly unlocked the door and fled from that room. He ended up clocking out early and walking home in the rain. It felt like the world wanted something from him that he couldn't give, and there was no-one he could reach out to without them declaring him crazy, except…

By the time he got back to Sean's house it was around 4pm, he fumbled around looking for his keys before realizing he didn't need them and proceeded to knock on the door.

"It's not locked!" He heard a familiar voice shout from inside, he took solace in that as it was the first time that day he felt safe.

He opened up the door, and stepped into the coatroom, hung his rain soaked coat over the radiator, then let out a defeated sigh. Sean looked up from his meal concerned, while Maddie was in the other room fixated on the TV.

"Do you need to sit down? You've looked miserable ever since you collapsed, you need to tell me what happened."

He sat down, though still felt soaked from head to toe. Contemplating whether talking would make him feel more secure, he pushed through anyway.

"When… that thing looked at me, I didn't feel like myself anymore, it wasn't even the right time of day. There was a birthday party going on inside, though I was standing outside. A car pulled up and… this… thing got out. I think it was a person but I could never look directly at it, then it came closer and closer to me, until it was looming over me, and began to wring my throat. Its face was so menacing, and it felt too real… I was so weak. I think it killed me."

He took a pause to look over a Sean who was listening though looked scared and disgusted with the words coming out of Aiden's mouth.

He continued solemnly "Today has been a nightmare too, I couldn't sleep at all last night so I think it's catching up to me. It's like the puppet was following me everywhere, though it always looked twisted and distorted like the man. I… tried to escape to the bathroom but… something followed me, I know I locked the door but, it was just standing there, it looked like a child though something about it was too off. I don't know what to do… I…"

He trailed off and his breathing skewed again and his train of thought was lost.

"We have to go back to the pizzeria at 5, because I needed to leave, and we didn't fix anything at all. My wife is mad at me as well, but everything is against me and I didn't know what to do."

Sean's horrified face had turned wistful.

"Those were… memories, I've seen this before. So does that mean… people were hurt there?"

"It's been all news for the past couple of weeks that children are going missing, surely they would have been found if I was… I mean, they were left outside the building." Aiden returned, rubbing his eyes.

"It's not unheard of for companies to cover things up, especially since it gives people jobs and money. Though if there really is a killer like you say, then you were right about not bringing Maddie, I'm sorry. I'll go talk to the manager on my own in a while, you need your sleep man." Sean spoke while getting up, wandering over to the door, and grabbing his coat "And don't worry, we will catch whoever it is and they won't be able to hurt anymore."

Aiden gave his wife a call, apologizing and explaining that an incident had happened and he just needed a day or two to sort himself out, she accepted and was just glad he called. Laying back down on the couch, it felt a lot easier for him to sleep that before…

* * *

 _Children, don't worry, we will save you…_


	4. Confusion

Sorting out the problem with the boss was not as easy as he first expected. He drove up the buildings address and parked outside, he thought to himself it looked a lot more cheerful in the day. Inside, it was the same as he expected it to be, there were groups of children running around having fun, drawing pictures and being loud…

Unsure where the boss was he ended up talking to one of the employees cleaning up a mess in the exact same room where the incident happened. The man directed Sean to the boss's location, though apart from that he didn't seem much for conversation. The entire time he was being talked to he seemed very uncomfortable, like he was looking at something else.

Sauntering up to the office, Sean sat down in front of the desk where the boss was working and was immediately met with a disappointed glare as he looked up.

"I don't know what the hell you two were doing last night, but I did not call you out here for you to mess a few things up and then leave with no explanation whatsoever, now you better have a damn good explanation on what you were up to or you can say goodbye to any chances of you ever being allowed in here again."

Sean bit his lip, confrontation was not his strong point. "Look, we came here to see if anything was wrong. When we went into that room, the marionette doll acted on its own, like it was living and thinking. We thought it would hurt my daughter, so we left…"

The boss's concerned glare got even stronger, before he stood up and began to yell.

"Are you on drugs or something? You mean to tell me you accepted the call to come fix the machines bug only to mess around with a game of fantasy? I'm not wasting my time with you!" He stood back and began muttering and fiddling with notes "That's the last time I trust Conner with bringing anyone in, get out of my sight."

Sighing, Sean got up and aimed to leave before he was stopped again by the same man who talked to him before.

"I think if you know what's good for you, you better sit down and wait for the police to arrive."

"Conner, what is going on?" The boss questioned "The police have already searched the place up and down, there is no evidence."

"Security footage of June 26th, shows someone walking around in that old bunny costume we used to use. All of the staff had been informed not to use it that day, it was seen talking to the missing ones and that's the last they were seen. There was a few minutes when the intruder was climbing into it and that man's face matches it completely, I knew it as soon as I saw him talking to me."

He turned to Sean "I've changed my mind, you aren't going anywhere you monster... how could you do something like that to..."

It was at that point he left the room leaving Conner to deal with the rest.

The police arrived moments later, they reviewed all the new evidence given and it all fit up perfectly. Handcuffed on the spot and led out of the restaurant, all the kids had gone silent and were staring curiously. One table of children caught his eye in particular, they looked to be all wearing party hats, and didn't move a muscle.

Not one…

* * *

Still at home, Maddie felt solemn, she knew what happened when she went was not was what meant to, the puppet was moving without its string, and the way it moved was...

"Aiden, can I um... talk to you about something" She mumbled, gently tapping at his shoulder as he was slowly beginning to wake up

"Wh... Sure kid go ahead..." He knew he wanted to ask her about what happened, but it didn't feel the right time up until now. Has she been seeing it too?

"I was standing there and she came closer and closer, and she was whispering nice things to me."

He looked surprised, there weren't any voices to his knowledge. "What did it say to you?"

"She acted soft, and said she wanted to protect me, I didn't understand but I felt safe and I believed her." She spoke, seemingly shying away. "Did you not hear her?"

"I, err… no, though I know you are telling the truth, I've been seeing strange things too ever since I left that building, it's been pretty terrifying. Your dad is sorting everything out, it'll be fine."

"I miss my friend" she mumbled, bursting into tears. "I want her to be safe and sound like that puppet wanted me to be."

He didn't know what to say at all anymore, he didn't even know what the hell was going on. He gently patted her shoulder. Speaking in the softest voice he could "Don't cry, we will find her in the end, safe and sound, and then you can all go out for a nice ice-cream, and maybe even a sleep over, does that sound fun?"

She mumbled in agreement and spoke softly "Aiden, you... remind me of someone"

She took herself off to her bedroom. Aiden couldn't get back to sleep again for quite a while, and felt awake enough so gave up, and switched on the TV.

* * *

Just after Sean finished high school, the sudden pressure to get a job and support himself came on too hard for him to handle, and he ended up experimenting with drinking until he became too dependent. During that time he started to take part in many risky behaviors and got warnings from the police for minor crimes quite a few times.

When he was nearly 20 years old, he lost his job for the first time. Feeling truly at rock bottom, he drove himself to the nearest pub, hoping to drink himself into oblivion, and ending up not planning how he was going to get home. Pretty soon he didn't know what he was doing, and found himself talking to a woman at the bar area, she was attractive, humorous, and slightly taller than him. They talked for a solid few hours, until inevitably she booked a taxi for them both to go back to her house.

The morning after, his head was throbbing and he began to panic as he didn't know where he was. She kept up the pleasant act as she did last night when she saw his, gave him an old jumper to change into, her number, and change for a taxi. Finding himself at home he fixed himself a drink then collapsed on the sofa.

No more than two weeks later, she called him with news of a pregnancy and practically begged him for support. He explained that he was unemployed at the moment and could not offer financial aid, but after a long discussion agreed not be absent.

He moved into her house partially, and supported her through the pregnancy. They became friends but it never seemed to escalate to more than that, but agreed that it was better not being able to stand each other.

The day he heard the news she was in labour, he ended up cancelling an interview to go see her. He arrived there and she was laying in the hospital bed wracked with pain, the staff let him in since the lady recognised him. Holding each other's hands, they felt more connected than they had in a long time.

It wasn't long before he was asked to leave the room as complications began to arise, he was sitting out by the waiting room, and couldn't stop biting his nails while praying for the safety of both of them. After what seemed like forever, he was called back into the room, he was given a healthy new baby girl, though the grim news of the mothers passing.

He stood there in shock, before weeping for an hour straight. The doctors comforted him as much as they could, before him finally agreeing to take the child home.

The next couple of years got emptier and emptier, his mental health was driven further and further into the ground as the alcohol binges got worse. His outburst and breakdowns became more aggressive since he didn't have anyone to comfort him. Despite all this he grew a liking to the little one he brought up in the house he lived in before his girlfriends, he named her Madilyn, and tried his best to do a decent job at upbringing.

Keeping his meltdowns out of her way was not as easy as liked, far too often he was horrible to her, to the point of her running to her room crying, and dare not leave for the rest of the night. It improved after he found employment with being a physic, and she grew to love him more, though the memories were always there…

The day of the court was also quite grim, and nothing in his past fared well with the judge or jury. He didn't have an alibi for around the times the disappearances were happening, and having Maddie's teacher come in and talk about the stories she told her about him getting drunk and yelling and breaking things seemed to be the deciding factor.

Despite all the pleading, Sean left that building that day jailed for life…


	5. Little one

Three painful weeks had passed for Maddie as her life as she knew it had been completely turned on its head. She sat on her new bed, in her new room staring up at the ceiling wishing the prison would change their minds, her father couldn't possibly do something that horrible to her friends, could he? Though no matter how much of a tantrum she threw, getting her voice heard was impossible.

The courts ruled that he was no longer allowed custody over her, therefore throwing her into the whirlwind that was the adoption system. At first she didn't care whether the parents coming to adopt liked her or not, but the grueling days ticked on and she found herself too lonely and mistreated to express herself as she wanted. Putting on a pleasant façade, she caught the eye of a middle aged couple who wanted children though could never manage it.

The house itself was fairly small and they didn't have much to go to in terms of entertainment, besides a few jigsaws and a garden with a small pond overrun with algae. There weren't many other people her age on her street either so the majority of the time she was cooped up in her room with the thoughts of how unfairly she was treated, even Aiden had told her it would be inappropriate to hang out. She didn't understand why she had to be well-behaved, these people weren't her dad and would never be, they were too strict for what she was used to and she missed him greatly.

She only got a wake-up call when she overheard them one day talking about how she wasn't the girl they wanted, and were considering giving her away again. This panicked her and she tried her best to be good from then on, even though that wasn't what she felt like. Despite this, she couldn't seem to cry anymore, she just sat on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

The words that the marionette said to her in that intense moment had stayed lingering in the back of her mind for the majority of the time, she felt like she needed to go back there to feel safe again. One night after school she decided it was time to make the move.

"Mum, can I ask you something?"

"Well I never, that must be the first time you've called me mum, does that mean you are going to be a good girl now?"

She held a fake smile for a few seconds and continued. "For tea tomorrow, please may we go to Freddy's? It's my favourite place."

"Ah, I see, you can be a pleasant little girl but only when you want something." The woman said, holding down her book and looking at her directly in the eyes "And of course not dear, that place is cursed I tell you, it's where nasty men to bad things to children like you and then never speak of it again."

"They caught the one who was doing it and he is in jail… the news said so."

"I don't trust that for one second, you are not going and that's final, I'm not going to let you in there and have some dirty crook lay his hands on you. You may be a pain in the neck, but we still love you, you know? I understand it must be difficult with a new environment, but we are just doing what is best for you."

She smiled again and took herself off to her room, though was still very angry about not being able to go see it, and began to throw around her toys and kick things in her room, not loud enough to get attention though.

The next morning she felt groggy, her new parents were very insistent at getting her up at 6 so she had plenty of time to get ready, but this only really worked if she went to bed on time. Due to this she was 10 minutes late for the bell and everyone had already gone inside. Throughout the day, going there was the only thing on her mind, especially since her father became the topic of conversation on multiple occasions, teachers tried to silence it and encouraged happier things to talk about, but the interest didn't die down.

It turned unpleasant when they started to notice Maddie had the same last name as the man that was painted as malicious all over the news, she denied it at first, but eventually ended up confiding the story to the people she had befriended the most in that school. It wasn't kept secret, soon the entire school knew and began to turn on her leading an influx of hair pulling, prodding, pushing, pinching her way.

Schools being as strict as they are, she was practically forced to go home with her parents. It was when she was playing alone in the garden that she had an idea.

She stood there for nearly half an hour, considering all the possibilities and frightened herself with what she was about to do. No one was looking her way, the atmosphere was cold, and the little one climbed up the garden fence, and ran off…


	6. Friend

Maddie walked down the road, keeping a fast pace just in case someone noticed she was missing. Panic was slowly rising as it grew dark and considering travelling back so many times, though reasoned with herself that going back home would just her into even more trouble. She hadn't bothered putting her hair up in the pigtails today, so it kept getting in the way of her face because of the wind.

Since she had only really looked around her new town a couple of times, she felt the roads were new and confusing. It took her a while to find a place she recognize, and by the time she was tired and hungry. A few more police cars that usual were out tonight, and she tried her best to stay out of the way of them in case they were looking for her, as the shame of being brought back home was an extremely bitter thought.

She ended up arriving at the building at around ten at night, it looked like it hadn't been touched in years. No one was there, and even though the door was locked, it looked weak enough to break open if she really tried. Words seemed to be scribbled on the walls, some of them were very sinister, though quite a few she didn't understand.

Bashing at the door for a few times it opened for her. Wandering in she sighed in contempt that for the first time in weeks she could so something she wanted to do. The lights were off like last time they were there, but there were no torches to show her where she was going. The outside began to rain and the drops began to drip into the building, which created slowly growing puddles on the ground she had to be careful not to step in. Insects and rats were also lurking near to the walls.

She planned to get herself something to eat from the cupboards in the kitchen, but seeing all this was enough to knock her sick and soon the idea of making something out of this seemed repulsive, the next plan was to find that puppet.

Wandering over to the box that she was in, her feet started hitting something else on the floor. Taking a closer look, bits of older looking robots arms, legs, and torsos that looked different than the ones she saw, were spewed all across the floor. Confused, she hurried to look in the box, though nothing was in there…

She snapped back into reality and started to panic about the intensity of what she was doing, she wanted to go back home, but her real home, and see her dad again. She collapsed and burst into tears on the spot, wanting the puppet to come and comfort her once more.

Nothing… except the glowing light of what looked light the bunny head appeared from across the room. She crawled closer, and realized that even though it had the ears, the face was completely destroyed, all apart from the single flickering red bulb in what used to be the eye. Feeling strange, she picked it up gently, feeling some sort of familiarity while looking into it. She held the head closer to her chest in the way the doll did to her.

A cold feeling grew on her back, it lasted too long to have come from the falling water. Jolting around, she caught the glimpse of a figure looming above her kneeling self. She could see it perfectly unlike anything else in the room, it looked like… her friend.

Except it didn't, it looked torn, beaten, and bruised to the point that in any other circumstance she wouldn't be able to even recognize it, but just looking at it, she knew. She knew that the figure in front of her was the one who used to brush her hair, and they would make biscuits together, and she cried for hours on end when no one knew where she was anymore.

The whispers grew louder and louder as the figure began to speak. Speaking of apologies, and all the times they had missed together, but also begging. Begging her to run from this place, running and never ever turning back. The voices jumbled in her head and she covered her ears.

"I want… to see you again…"

…

The noises faded, leaving nothing but the darkness and quiet… and a hand on her shoulder…

She opened her eyes and looked up, there was a man standing there. It was different, looking so much more sinister than her fallen friend as he looked down at her. He had a torch as well and she could barely see who he was behind the blinding light in her eyes. The hand was rough, and seemed to be gripping at her.

Attempting to move her arm proved to no avail as it only tightened, to the point when the fingers dug into her skin. As she began to whimper quietly, the man seemed to smile at this. She managed to free her arm for a while and tried to scramble up until a large clump of her hair was caught harshly in his fist.

Struggling again, she ended up falling backwards and slamming her head on the cold floor, and began to feel the trickle of blood coming from her nose. He began to walk, scraping her body along the ground with him, she desperately tried to reach for the chairs and table legs, though nothing worked anymore. Screams and sobs resounded through the entire building and her thoughts were plagued with nothing but fear and regret, wanting nothing more in that moment than to be with someone she loved again.

No, it was all over…

* * *

 _I was only 9 years old when I died._

 _The coils pierce into me, the pain won't stop, and it's so dark._

 _I don't even know what he looked like…_


	7. Ambivalence

" _9-year-old school girl Madilyn Hammond has been missing from her home since this Monday, August 3r_ _d_ _. She is described as having medium length ginger hair and green eyes. The police are suspecting a runaway case due to difficulties coping with sudden adoption, though they are not ruling out anything yet. If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of this individual, please contact your local police branch with the details."_

Aiden turned off the TV and just stared into the black empty screen, not knowing how to think or feel. He went into these people's lives unaware of how easily and suddenly they could disintegrate completely around him. Pressing his forehead in his hands, he didn't even know what the hell he was meant to do now. He wasn't even certain whether Sean was responsible or not, he tried to reason that the pleasant man he met wouldn't even be capable of that, but the person's face was unidentifiable behind the cloud of haze and uncertainty.

He stood up and walked to the kitchen, feeling too drained to bother turning on the lights, he barely even managed to make his way to the fridge in the surrounding darkness without stumbling. Even so, he felt like there was something uncertain lurking all around him, his thoughts would not stray from that poor little girl… where could she be?

He had felt a small headache growing all evening and now it was just getting worse and worse. He desperately wanted to call the services explaining what happened, but its only when his quivering hand was hovering over the phone he realised there was nothing to say that didn't sound made up…

The piercing pain in his forehead grew and nothing he did managed to satisfy it to any degree. It got the point where he was driven to collapsing in tears on the ground. After what seemed like an eternity, without even realising it, he fell deep into sleep.


	8. Follow me

He didn't feel like himself again, just the same as he did when he was in that dirty parking lot, around the back of that forsaken restaurant. The surroundings seemed distant yet almost too familiar at the same time. The roads stretched endlessly and the buildings towered above him, though his vision was obstructed by what seemed like fog at the end of the streets. The sky seemed like a painting that had been erased.

The entire place was deserted, not a single car, person, or even so much as a whisper could be heard from any direction. He could only manage to hear and see his breathing as it escaped into mist in the cold atmosphere.

Looking down at his palms, they seemed much softer and smaller. His breathing began to quicken at this realisation, as he looked around again for signs of something in the empty roads. Peering between a few of buildings on his left there sat what seemed to be a small torn up golden bear, one of the ears was missing from it, as well as it looking dirty and rough, presumably due to not being looked after.

It seemed to look directly through Aiden as he stood there, now quivering at the sight of what this was. He gulped and started to take a couple of miniscule steps towards the animal but it seemed to move no closer. The bears white eyes were beginning to show a hint of a white glow which resembled a pupil in the toys previously completely dark eyes.

More and more, he began to walk into the alley and feeling the gravel beneath his feet, the bear stayed at a constant distance away from him no matter how far he travelled, like it was a fixed and untouchable point in his vision.

Yet he knew there was something familiar about this too, and continued to follow it as much as he could…

It wasn't long before he came across an empty overgrown park, close to the pavement. The two swings place there stood absolutely still as he usual desire to play was overcome with his desire to move on, trailing this bear like there was something at the end of the walk.

The pain of the headache had completely faded, and seemed to be replaced by more of a numb feeling. He pressed on past the park, not daring to take his eyes of the doll right now in case it might disappear…

It wasn't long before the silhouette of a large structure began to appear in the distance, and by getting closer it revealed another parking lot, this time however there was a larger golden bear glued around the entrance, posed in such a way it seemed to be gesturing towards the already open door. The eyes of the mascot seemed to stare into him, leaving a sense of unease which wasn't helped by the completely and utter silence everywhere.

He held his hand towards the door and entered. The hallway to this seemed to stretch endlessly as well, filled from wall to wall with brightly coloured tables and flooring. The pain seemed to return, as he felt a tingling sensation just behind his eyes, similar to pins and needles.

Slowly making his way around this long corridor, he came across a large set of bright red doors, which when he looked at them seemed to beg to be opened, as if to satisfy come greater curiosity. With great difficulty, he took the handles in his weak hands and pulled it open. All there was seemed to be endless darkness, so vast that if he stepped forward he would fall into nothingness.

The unease grew the more he looked, the feeling growing that he should not know about this, that there is something wrong with him even laying eyes on this room, and he shut the door quickly.

Taking a step back and catching his breath, his eyes drew to a purple figure of a bear and a rabbit on the wall, and then following the casting noticed two them.

They were stood several meters higher than him on top of a wooden stage, golden and rusted, peering down menacingly at the little boy. He felt true fear at this moment and fell back, the pain and ringing ears growing stronger as they started at each other directly in the eyes. His breathing grew weak and the taste of blood became apparent in his mouth.

With each blink the machines head seemed to tilt and jaw seemed to crack and break open, almost like it was smiling at him, until eventually it snapped shut with a sickening thud.

Just before everything faded… three words began to ring in his mind without a discernible voice…

… _Ward 07…_


	9. Birthday boy

It's common knowledge for a child, since it's something they are told day after day, don't trust strangers. Don't talk to them, don't listen to them, don't follow them. Of course while children may know the rules that they are told by their parents, they do not truly understand why not all adults are trustworthy, especially not in a place that they thought was safe and fun. So when they are approached by a familiar face of a mascot they have come to know and love, why else would they treat them as anything other than a friend?

As it was approaching Aiden's 6th birthday, and he couldn't be less excited. Typically for other children, adoption was a fun experience, a loving family, nice food, and no more strictness. Except what he found himself in was far from that. But only being a month in, he already knew too well his new brother hated his guts, not shying away from telling him how worthless he felt the new addition to the family was.

At least he had his friends, the stuffed plushies of a very special bear, fox, chicken, and bunny rabbit. There was also something else, he didn't really know when he found it, or if he even found it at all. It was a bear, the same as Freddy, though its fur was a bright golden colour. Another thing that made it different from the others, is it seemed to always be there for him. Speaking words of comfort when he was in need. He tried to take it anywhere he could, keeping it close to so he never felt alone.

When the word spread to his family that he wanted to spend his birthday there, the torment immediately got worse. His brother didn't want to spend a single minute at that lousy place, and made his voice known. His toys were cut up, and he couldn't walk around the house without treading extra carefully, because the loud scream as his brother leapt out at him could happen at any time…

Soon he didn't even want to go anywhere near that place anymore, but it was already decided and booked with his friends…

A few days before the actual event, he was taken there to visit, and he walked in cautiously holding his golden friend close to his chest. The building no longer felt safe, the bright colours and sounds became sickly. As soon as the little boy dared to let out a distressed whimper, the teenage boy smiled and darted out of the building, leaving the child there all alone with the intimidating adults.

Managing to sneak under a table with a cloth that draped over the sides, he felt comfort in the dim light that only got through in a tiny amount through the fabric. It was also secluded from the outside dangers.

He placed the bear in front of him, it toppled slightly but he sat him up again. It's eyes glowed silver as they always do when the bear speaks to him. Usually it would speak of encouragement against the bullying. Though this time, it was words of dangers, of teeth…

Of course he didn't know what this meant at the time, and it wasn't long before one of the staff members found him. She politely requested him to leave the underside but got a bit firmer when he initially refused, explaining people needed to sit around it without kicking him. Reluctantly, he left his sanctuary into the cluster of noise, taking the bear with him always.

Compared to the cartoon show he likes to watch, this restaurant only had two golden animals. They would be fun, if it weren't for the shadows cast onto the walls next to it. He felt like he was the only one who could see them at one point. The bunny had an evil grin on its face made by darkness that took all the courage to not run from, while the bear's silhouette looked like it was weeping tears of sorrow and distress. They blocked his way so going to see the actual ones up close was far too scary.

Stepping back and sitting down at the table, he noticed something was different. Usually the tall red doors that stayed shut permanently was cracked slightly. He snuck round and peered in, unable to make out what he saw, someone being put into a costume, and someone else that was obscured by the darkness. Soon he was met with an annoyed look, and the door was shut quickly.

Being a child, this had only strengthened his curiosity of what may lay behind these doors. He pushed again, though this time it had been locked tightly. The same woman from before was giving him stern looks at this, keeping an eye on his behaviour from then on.

Feeling tired and overwhelmed by now, he tried to head towards the exit. Though he seized and froze in place as he saw the mascot coming closer and closer to him. The bear in his arms started whispering to him again, telling him he needed to get out, and get to the exit as fast as he could manage. All he could focus on was the teeth of the mascot, they were large and looked like they could tear him to bits.

 _You know what happens if he catches you._

He tried to run, but the shadows left him cornered, and huddled up, sobbing to himself. At least he has tomorrow…


	10. Don't trust the Bunnyman

When the special day came around, getting a good night sleep seemed to help keep his mood up enough to enter the place he feared with all his heart. Making friends was a difficult task at the moment due to everything going on, but he managed to find a group that he liked enough to invite.

The only one near his age was Thomas Matthews, who was 7 years old but in the same year at school, they met on the first day and grew to like each other, he really tried hard to make him laugh. The second was Casey Goodwin, was a total of 4 years above him, and was assigned to be the one to make sure he was settled in on the first day, and from then on she always made a bit of an effort to look out for him.

The other two were met outside of school, Micheal and his little sister Nadia met Aiden at an ice-skating rink, and even though Micheal and Aiden didn't really get on anymore, he was invited to his previous birthday, it only felt right if he returned the favour. The family was almost crossing the line with getting his sister to come along, though she was far too little be left alone on her own.

There was also meant to be a 5th guest invited that knew Casey quite well, but word got around that she was ill with meningitis at that point so had to stay in the house.

He only had one birthday party at this place before, last year he was taken here and he loved it, being the reason he bought the plushies in the first place. From what he could remember, they put you around a long table, just let everyone talk and then serve up food, ending with party bags full of gifts and other things.

The group arrived, acting quite chipper and happy to see each other. The fear that this boy felt towards this place had faded slightly, and he began to feel at ease with the atmosphere again.

 _Maybe it won't be so bad…_

One thing had been on his mind for quite a while however, the bear had not said a word to him the entire day. He had never done this before, was something wrong?

They all began to give him the presents one at a time, and they all gathered round a table to watch him open it. It contained fun things like sunglasses, a rubix cube, and pencil set. He thanked them all, and started to feel happy again.

After this was over, a mascot approached the group of chattering children, and ruffled the birthday boy's hair with the padded hand. A friendly, yet muffled voice spoke from inside of it, but none of them noted this as strange.

"Are you guys ready for a fun time?"

They all smiled and agreed, which led to the golden rabbit gesturing them to come towards the large red doors. Aiden got excited at this, since he wanted to know what the inside of it looked like. Last year they had just done it out in the open, but now he had an entire room to himself.

Walking in, the lights were fairly dimmed. In front of him was a long table, covered in a checkered cloth, and individual party hats sitting on the table, in front of plates and cutlery. They all took a seat, and put on the hats while they were chattering and laughing. The bunny joined the conversation a bit before going to get the cake, and initiated singing the ceremonious song for the others to join in.

The cake was placed in front of him and Aiden looked at the 6 flickering candles on the top, before closing his eyes and making a wish. He blew them out in about 3 goes, and the others cheered. The man gently picked out each of the candles and placed them on the table next to it, and then proceeded to cut individual slices for all of them. The cake was rather small so it fit into 5 pieces decently.

Aiden picked up the slice of cake that had been kindly cut for him, and was about to take a bite when his nose was overwhelmed with how it smelled. Not thinking he could manage a bite, he put it down subtly. Looking around at his friends, who were all stuffing their faces, crumbs covering their mouths. The bunny had turned unusually silent compared to before and was just staring into nothing.

They all felt the second they knew something was wrong, Casey gripped her stomach and started to gag, as if something was stabbing at her. The others soon followed, Nadia collapsed on the ground trembling, and curling into a ball. Her brother stared at Aiden angrily, as if he was responsible, but soon fell to the pain and placed his head down, practically laying on the table. Thomas was just left moaning and crying, a trickle of vomit down his chin.

They all fell silent within about a minute. Aiden was the only one left standing, and staying rooted to the spot as he watched the tall rabbit slowly going round each of them, touching their faces as if checking for something, before turning to the boy.

"Don't you want to try some of the cake? It was made especially for you…" He spoke with a sinister tone, towering over him.

He couldn't focus on what the man was saying, it all felt like blur. Aiden just stood there staring at his friends, not moving at all.

He spoke louder, almost demanding "I insist that you try some, it is your birthday after all."

The boy showed his denial by shaking his head slowly, tears forming and legs shaking. He looked up at the eyes of the Bunnyman, and no emotion could be found behind those dark eyes.

"Well then, if that's the way it will be…" the voice continued "You will leave and not speak a word to anyone, or else I will find you again, understand?"

Aiden began to nod, trying to step away from the figure in front of him, who was speaking all these cruel words.

He dropped the teddy and fled out of the door, collapsing on the ground outside, uncontrollable sobs leaking from his eyes.

Hugging onto the leg of a table, he sat helpless, not knowing what to do, until he saw his brother approaching with a group of his friends. They were all much taller than him, and left nowhere to run. All of them were wearing the same emotionless masks as the man before.

One of them smirked, and finally spoke…

" _Wow, your brother is kind of a baby isn't he?"_


	11. Blood brothers

The hospital equipment was loud, and the staff were aggravated, though not even this was enough of a distraction to prevent Jasper from panicking over what he had just done. The guilt grew more unbearable every second he had to wait there, waiting for his news of his brother, of which he had just broken out of pure spite…

He knew he didn't mean it, although he was also aware enough to know that a sorry would not solve this now. All the prayers in the world wouldn't fix the damage caused by that bears jaw. Though he still wished it was all a lie…

Aiden wasn't his real brother, at least in the traditional sense. He had only been living at his house for nearly a month or so. It pissed him off when his mother decided she wanted another child, as his dad decided to break up with her recently, and he knew she wouldn't be able to afford it, plus he despised children in general.

His mind was not changed when he met who she chose for the first time, he seemed sort of pleasant though there was something undeniably eerie about that little boy who stood on the porch.

The opinion of him only seemed to get worse over the next few weeks. The house didn't feel secure anymore, it even felt like it was contaminated by something. Far too often, he overheard the boy whispering to himself, as if he was having a conversation, and even getting unheard replies. As well as screaming the middle of the night about monsters, though when we went to check, there was never anything…

That bear he brought with him was also strange, and was probably the thing that made him most uncomfortable about all this. He kept it with it with him most of the time, so the minute Jasper noticed he left it alone to play in the garden, he snuck into his bedroom to observe it.

Though as soon as he picked up the golden bear, it squirmed in his grasp, causing Jasper to drop it on the ground in disgust, and frantically wipe his hands on his jeans. He paced quickly out the room, not looking back at the bear with the now glowing eyes.

Over meal time, he decided not to mention it. They ate in near silence, though Aiden had his favourite that day. Jasper waited until the boy had left and his mother started doing the dishes before begin to complain.

"You said we agreed to look after a little boy, not whatever that is…"

"Don't be awful." She spoke bitterly through her teeth.

"You have to feel it too… he is a fucking creep!" He comes back at her, trying to get her to see his way

"He is your brother, and I want you to make an effort to make his time here worthwhile."

"As if I could call that thing my brother…"

It was at that point she snapped.

"You disgraceful boy! Get out of my sight!" She yelled, her eyes fighting off tears.

He ran off upstairs, gritting his teeth, and locked himself in his room.

The resentment only grew after that argument, he despised that creature. On top of this, why the hell would he want to go spend an entire afternoon at that filthy restaurant with the disturbing robots, and he tried his best to make Aiden despise it.

Still, he ended up there anyway somehow, though after an hour he was just sitting all alone like the pathetic mess he was. Out of pure bitterness, he gathered his friends to teach him a lesson. They picked up the sputtering boy, one limb each, and took him over to his 'best friend' for a big kiss…

He still remembers what happened next as if he was in the moment. Creaking, a heavy thud, and the blood starting trickling, created dark red strains on the floor as it trickled down from the mouth. They stood there frozen, until everything was sorted out around them…

Jasper was allowed to come visit him after half an hour, the injured child was hooked up to several machines that he couldn't even begin to explain what they did. He had brought the boys doll, which didn't squirm in his hands, and then placed it next to his cheek. Jasper held his hand, though he knew he couldn't feel it, all that's left now is a broken shell…

 _I wonder what he is thinking now?_


	12. It's all me

When Aiden first decided to apply for that job, he seemed almost impossibly skeptical of the entire profession, and almost believed that anyone who got into it was out of their minds. Who the hell would want to spend their time in a failing pizza restaurant that barely even got cleaned properly. He had to remind himself that at least he was going to get paid for the countless nights he would spend alone with nothing but a flashlight and the dark.

He walked in nervously, close to midnight on the first Monday that he was expected to go in. Before settling down, he decided to look around a little bit, to familiarise himself with the building. The atmosphere around him was dirty and dim; it honestly didn't feel like they cleaned up at all. The animals on stage felt strangely sinister, he tried push these thoughts to the back of his mind and convince himself it must be the time of the day he was there, though he felt they were staring right at him, thinking.

The office was at the end of two long corridors, either side of it. He looked up at the ceiling, spotting large damp patches, and cobwebs resting the corners of the walls. The room itself was rather small, a singular lampshade hung above the room, the bulb barely managing to illuminate the space around it, never mind the space outside. The walls were filled with posters and scrawls that looked like they would be done in 5 minutes with a crayon.

An old looking phone sat on the desk, and began to crackle and ring when he sat down for the night. The voice spoke out, seeming familiar, but also distant. It spoke of happy things at first, explaining that this place was fun and happy during the day, a place where children enjoy themselves and dreams come true. After what seemed like hours, the messages changed their tone, now he only spoke that those robots weren't normal, they would roam the halls, searching for anyone who was invading their precious wonderland.

 _If they find you, they will make you one of them, and you will forever join their party…_

Without a second thought, he unplugged the recording, not daring to listen to more of whatever that man had to say. For now, it was a smart move to only focus on this situation, to get through these 6 hours without any more unease. The corridors to his left and right were now completely darkened, as if there was never anything there in the first place, and the only way he could see pass the darkness was with the weak torch he held in his trembling hands.

His eyes gazed left, right, and left again, though the hallways stayed dormant and still. All until he heard a distinct and innocent cry coming from the surrounding walls, as well as footsteps running, which sounded too soft to be that of the robots. He felt helpless, just sitting waiting for the fear to catch up to him. The camera showed that cursed fox peeking out behind the cloth that kept it hidden, he knew it was waiting till he was off guard, before it would sink its teeth into his flesh. Taking another look at the hallway, the blue bunny stood there, its eyes sunken in and bloodshot…

He leapt back, slamming the door as quick as his reflexes would let him, and stood facing the grey window… it didn't leave. It stood there, staring him down, and scraping its paw down the window as if it was going to break it at any moment. He heard cold breathing behind his neck, the torch failed for a moment and the bunny was gone…

He turned around sprinted down the hallway, this job was not worth this terror, not even for all the pay in the world. Though something was badly wrong, the hallway lasted and lasted, it stretched far beyond his vision, and no matter how much he desperately wanted to get out, it never ceased.

Soon the words written in black ink on the walls made themselves clear, he didn't want to look at them as he already knew what they would say. All he hoped for was that this nightmare will perish if he gets far enough. His breath was raspy and his legs tired from running, when he finally though an end was in sight…

 _All that was there was those cursed red doors…_

He gave up… he knew this was a nightmare, one that he could never escape from. The cries of his friends, the wrath from his brother, the grief his mother faced, poor little Madilyn, and her father. It was all his fault…

Knowing he had no other choice than to be strong, he opened those doors, for the final time.

He braced himself for the worst, though even this was not what he expected. He blinked, it was a hospital room, and the faint sound of a heart monitor buzzed in the background. In front of him lay a small boy, his face covered by bandages, pink lilies stood at the side of the bed, and his golden friend was looking away from him, at the blank wall.

The older man stood above that boy and looked over him as he lay crippled in his bed. That man didn't exist, he realised he was nothing more than a figment of this broken child's imagination, just the same as the rest of the world he had created in whatever was left of his mind, still trying to grip onto reality. _The dead really do forget._

Yet it was still so much more than that, this man was all Aiden truly wanted to be, to be able to have lived his childhood out the way he was meant to, instead of being reduced to a shell of a being.

"You have to remember" Aiden spoke out to himself.

"I can't." He replied behind the bandages

"You have to grow up"

"I can't."

"You are the only one who can save them, you promised…"

"I... can't." His voice trembled.

"They are still your friends… do you believe that?"

"I do…"

"You can save them"

"I … can"

Aiden smiled, and was no more.


	13. Slumber

"Are you one hundred percent sure you have everything?"

"Yes dad!"

"Pajamas? Toothbrush? Knickers?"

"Yes! I had to be there at 3'o'clock and now I'm late! Let's go!" Maddie scolded, trying to push him out of the door.

"Wait, but do you have your homework?" Sean spoke sarcastically.

"I'm not taking my homework to Casey's house!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't make you."

She packed her bag into the car, and was about to get in before she realized she forget her hairbrush, and turned back to her dad, but keeping her eyes on the ground.

"I need to get back in the house..."

"So all that fuss before was for nothing?" He smirked, rubbing his forehead. "What did you forget?"

"Can you get my hairbrush please? It's on my bedside table."

"Of course, wait in the car."

She climbed into the front and clipped her belt, looking out the window for her dad to return. Much to her dismay, she only managed to get off a booster seat round about two weeks ago, and the front seat was a very new and exciting experience.

Speaking of excitement, it was the first time Maddie had ever been to a sleep over, and Casey had been the first friend she made since she moved for the first time. Even though they felt comfortable around each other, Maddie was still nervous as she didn't know what it was going to be like.

It was important to her to look as nice as she could for this spectacular occasion. She completed this task by wearing a black dress with a sequined star on the front, and her hair tied up in a fancy bun above her head, though she stuck to her trusted black pumps as they were the most comfortable.

Her father came back about 3 minutes later, looking slightly disappointed while he was getting into the car next to her.

"I couldn't find yours, so you can borrow my comb for the weekend only, better not lose it like you lost your own."

"I swear it was there, did you check behind it?"

"Of course I did, I know what you are like."

"Under the bed?"

"Wasn't it you who said we have to go? You can look when you come back."

She sighed, but nodded and slipped the comb into her back along with the other junk.

The drive took about 20 minutes, and Maddie was getting more and more anxious the more she was late. She felt Casey was somewhat of a role model, someone to really look up to. She even started to encourage her dad to speed a few times, which he did, but soon she was scared of how fast he was going and told him to stop.

The road up to Casey's house followed a lot of twists and turns, which made Maddie feel slightly car sick. They found the house eventually and pulled up at the pavement next to her drive, and she took a second to steady herself, before inspecting her house. It was singular, unlike hers which was stretch of many houses attached together, and there was a string of ivy climbing the wall. It was also a lot more peaceful as it wasn't opposite a busy street near a nursery...

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Yes, I'm really sure"

"Alright I'll see you off... also if you are going to the shops after all, remember be safe on the roads and don't talk to strangers."

"Will do and won't do." She hummed before grabbing her stuff and skipped over to front door, alerting Casey to her presence, who was waiting by the front window for her to arrive. They hugged as soon as she opened the door, and she waved to her dad to signal it was OK to drive away.

Completely contrasting Maddie, Casey was wearing casual pink Pajamas with maroon a paw prints pattern covering it, and her wavy brown hair was as scruffy and un-brushed as usual. It currently reached down to her elbows as she thought it a challenge to get it long enough to donate.

Maddie stepped in the front door, only to come with to another door, leaving her slightly confused.

"You can leave your bag and shoes in here before we go upstairs, mum doesn't like when there are stains on the carpet since it's beige." Casey spoke, stepping back. "Also, mum isn't actually here right now and will be out until 7 so we won't be able to eat until then."

"Wait, your mum is at work? But it's Saturday!"

"Yeah... she does a lot of work, but she will be here all of tomorrow!"

Maddie nodded, and placed both her shoes and bag on the flimsy rack placed against the wall, passed through the second door, before the two girls ran upstairs excitedly.

"Your dress is really fancy! Where did you get it?" Casey questioned, while opening up the door to her bedroom which had been cleaned only for this event.

"Oh, it was a gift for Christmas last year, I'm not really sure."

The walls of the room were painted a soft pink, and the carpet was a slightly worn grey. Sprawled across the bed was a brown throw that covered it enough that she couldn't see what the actual duvet cover was, and it was also covered in more pillows than Maddie deemed to be necessary. A large ceiling fan was turning softly as it was pretty warm in the middle of June. The brown and pink reminded Maddie of chocolate biscuits, and she was surprised it didn't melt in the heat.

Of course they weren't interested in hanging out in this room for too long, as the true interest came in things that didn't necessarily belong to them. As custom with nights out, dressing up and putting on makeup was mandatory, a problem came with Casey not owning any make up of her own, and therefore needing to borrow... someone else's.

Maddie sat down in front of her mother's mirror, looking over the complicated makeup items scattered all over the place. Casey pulled out the hair curlers from the drawer and crawled under the desk to push it in the socket, waiting for it to heat. She stood up, nearly banging her head against the table.

"Hey, do you think you could do me a favour and come to Aiden's party at Fredbears with me?"

"Who is that? Oh wait is that little boy who tags along with you?"

"Yeah, he doesn't have many other friends, he likes to just stay in the classroom and sharpen pencils at break instead of going outside." She spoke, taking out the bun in Maddie's hair "He insisted, so I'd like someone my I know properly to be there."

"Don't you think he is a bit of a cry-baby?"

"He is vibrant, but too sensitive."

"That sounds like poetry."

"I guess, but can you come?" She spoke with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll tell my dad soon... how long away?"

"It's on the 26th. Are you excited?" She said, comically loudly.

"Yeah!" Maddie shouted back, correctly matching her volume.

Once that query was settled, the straighteners were fully warm, Casey held a lock of hair on the back of her hair, and began to apply it, though the tingling on the back of her neck caused a strange shiver down her back, which caused Casey to giggle.

"Did someone walk on your grave?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not dead..."

"No silly, when you shake like that it means someone stood where your grave is going to be! It's just a silly story though, my mum comes out with all sorts of strange stuff!"

"My dad is worse, he told me if you got to Fredbears at night, they come alive!"

"No they don't! Ghost stories are for later..." Casey spoke, a bit panicky, though continued on her hair until it was as straight as it could be, and then admiring her work.

Maddie could not stop touching it, it was so warm and different, but having it still didn't give her the fringe she wanted.

The rest of the day passed a breeze, Casey's mother arrived back at the house thirty minutes after seven. She was a rather lanky woman, with a short blonde bob, though it seemed the front was much longer than the back was.

"Nice to meet you, dear, Madilyn is it?" She spoke seeming rather out of breath, while leaning down to the girls' height

"Y- yeah!" She answered looking at the woman, pulling an awkward smile.

"When is tea?" Casey groaned, trying to pull a dramatic slump.

"I have just got in young lady, be patient. I will get ready and then put it on." She looked at her daughter with a stern expression before letting it soften. "Do you have any preferences Madilyn?"

"No thank you, Miss Goodwin." She looked down, trying to be polite.

"I'll just pop on a pie then in a minute." The woman placed her bag and shoes down before walking upstairs to get ready.

The duo sat down at the dining room table, which was pushed to the side of a rather small kitchen, considering the size of the rest of the house. Soon her older brother joined her, but didn't pay any attention to the girls as he was too focused on his small puzzle he found from a charity shop.

Her mother came down and served the food up, which happened to be Chicken pie with green beans. Casey left half of it, though Maddie ate all of it pretty quickly as she didn't have a big breakfast that day, and then politely requesting to leave.

Afterwards, the two played in the garden for a few hours, not doing anything in particular until it went dark and they were called inside quickly.

"I think I'm tired" Maddie mumbled with a yawn

"We can't go to bed yet! It's too early."

"Excuse me young lady" Her mother stepped in, "You will be going to bed now, I'm not having you two keep me up all night!"

"We won't make much noise. I promise!" Casey started to moan.

"Yes, it's difficult to when you are asleep."

"Fine" She gave in, slowly climbing under the covers.

Her mother set up a spare mattress tucked under Casey's bed for Maddie to sleep, before retreating back downstairs to her book. The two girls disobeyed, and whispered jokes and things to make each other laugh until 11pm, when Casey was the one to drop off first surprisingly.

Maddie noticed that there were stars visible from the uncovered window, before dropping off herself.

* * *

Later that week, Sean seemed to be speaking on the phone for quite a long time, not saying much in return to what was being said. Madilyn listened with interest for a while, but she didn't know the other side, so she couldn't make anything of it. During that time, she was disappointed she couldn't go to the birthday, as she was still unpleasantly ill.

10 minutes later, she was called back into the room, Sean kept a distracted look on his face.

"Madilyn, I need you to sit down and have mature conversation, is that OK?"

She nodded and perched herself on the sofa opposite him, and he gently placed his hand on hers, but looked away as if he didn't know how to approach what he was going to say.

"Sometimes, things happen in life that we have no control over... and while they may be sad, there is nothing we can do." He paused, his throat was dry, "Casey, as well as everyone else at that birthday party, have not been home to their families in two days... and no one knows where she is, I'm sorry sweetie."

He held her tight as the little girl fell into a flood of tears, he knew how this felt, so it hurt even more, and the fact that they didn't know what happened...

 _She went to upstairs without a word._


	14. Night Terrors

The thumping in his ears continued on, even though it was just his little heartbeat, which was made louder by the pillow his ears were pressed against. He convinced himself it was the small monsters again.

They were nearly black in colour and had an oval shaped body with two pointy ears. There was a small one and a larger one. They would walk up the stairs endlessly leading to his door, but never to be seen. He stared at the landing of the attic room, and hoped one day they would show themselves, but they never did.

Unable to get back to sleep after waking up for the toilet, he snuck out of bed and wandered over to the bookshelf. Using a chair to reach the highest ledge, he reached to get his photo album down, since it was his favourite thing to look through. It captured his entire life from the week after he was born, to his 6th birthday where his father let his animal friends sing him that special song, they even knew his name.

The chair toppled a bit and he became afraid he was going to fall off and hit his head on the floor. Even though it was carpet, it was far too thin to be comfortable. He carefully got down, sat on the chair and opened the book.

The first few pictures showed him as a baby, his curly blonde hair was still the same as it was now, though it darkened and grew longer since then. His eyes were blue to start off, though they changed to brown throughout time. He also had a lot more teeth than he did back then, but now they were just starting to come loose, and his mouth was becoming rather crooked.

Charlotte, his sister, came first in the book, two years before in fact. Pictures showed that she sometimes would lie across the stroller when he was very little, simply to get his attention. Even though they got on each other's nerves sometimes, they were still mentioned as being closer than other siblings.

His absolute favourite in that book was when he was at the beach for the first time. All because of how much he enjoyed building a sand castle, followed by a moat around it to prevent the ocean from getting to it.

Although, he didn't like the sea very much, not only did it not smell very nice, it also hurt the cracks and sores all down his arms and made him cry. If he was going to go in again, he would make sure to only paddle a little bit, and dodge the waves before they got to him.

"Elliot? Are you OK?" The familiar voice of his father called from down his stairs, snapping him out of his memories. However, the boy didn't answer, or his dad would know he was out of bed, though the silence led to him coming up the stairs anyway, as Elliot darted under the covers.

"Are you having a terror again?" Mr Gilborn asked sympathetically

"No dad, I was just looking at the photographs," Elliot mumbled, with a long yawn, the evidence of the abandoned album lay strewn across the floor.

"I've put you to bed once already, it's nearly midnight." The man spoke with a slightly tense voice as if he had just woken up. "I thought you were running around like a mad box of frogs again like you did on Tuesday."

"I did it on Tuesday? I don't remember…"

"Sometimes you don't, they are weird like that." His father spoke, noticed the boy was starting to scratch at his arms. "Have you put on your creams?"

"No…" Elliot spoke a bit ashamed

His father sighed. "You have to do it, especially when it gets colder, C'mere." He got out a tub of gloopy cream from the cabinet in the bathroom.

"It stings…"

"I know pet, but it's better than the cracks, isn't it?" The man said, rubbing the cream in that made the dryness disappear completely, which Elliot always found fascinating. "Its winter now, you have to be more careful."

"Ok daddy." Elliot's dreary voice agreed, laying his face back on his pillow. He had always slept like a worm, keeping his hands tucked underneath his legs, though sometimes put his hands under his pillow, especially on warm nights, as the underside was always cool. He could never understand how people could sleep on their backs, it was impossible...

The little boy was almost asleep now, closing his eyes felt strange as it always did like there was something looming over him, or like he was falling endlessly, though when he opened them, there was nothing there, not even his father anymore.

* * *

That cold winters evening, close to the holiday of Christmas, he was playing alone in a park not too far from his house, but it was also fairly close to the restaurant his father made. The cold air nipped as his cheeks and nose, as he sat on the swing, looking up at the empty sky and watching his breath escape into the atmosphere and fade away.

He didn't want to gain momentum, as he felt the dread creeping in. The dread that always lingered for as long as he could remember, no matter how much he tried to escape it, knowing his end would come for him one day, though never when or why...

It wasn't long before that car pulled up on the street opposite, a stranger stepped out…

 _There is nothing wrong with that, right?_


	15. Porphyrophobia

**[Be warned: Horrible]**

The little girl had stopped moving after the first one snapped on her throat, blood leaking from the sides that weren't covered. Serves her right for staying up past her bedtime...

He stood back, looking over what he did with utter joy, licking his teeth. Placing the torch on the table, he began to remove the blood on the golden suit using a dry wipe since it was still fresh. Such a shame he couldn't see her little face anymore, since the suits were for adults, there was barely any trace of her, not even the top of her head. All was hidden except a little on the mouth that dried too quickly, but surely that would be taken as remnants from that little termite who got himself thrown into the mouth of this thing.

He looked behind him at the parts scattered all over the floor. After that wonderful birthday... something always struck him as strange about the robots, and the way they twitched at him, as well as smelling awful... sometimes even bleeding, but no one else seemed to notice it. This was curious, and when the boss suggested bringing someone external in for the constant malfunctioning, he had a different idea of who to call.

Sean's rambling about the puppet moving without its strings confirmed his suspicions, the only thing left would be to forge evidence, and he would get off Scot-free. How dare they come back, making a pathetic show with the animals here, how funny it would be funny to break them all over again. Which is exactly what he did...

Conner McGuire grew up in a poorer area of his country, one where there seemed to be a lack of rules compared with the more prestigious places in society. His childhood town felt like a damp sponge, as living in a valley was claustrophobic and the weather was always awful.

For entertainment on the way to school, he would jump on the road until a car came along, and he would leave it dangerously late before moving out of the way. If any adult bothered to try to tell him off, he would run off as fast as he could. The parents didn't seem to care either, whatever he watched on television or did outside his house was none of their concern. Therefore, gore and pornography grew to be something he had knowledge of, though it disgusted yet intrigued him at the same time. He knew it was meant to be something bad or grown up, but watching clips repeatedly seemed to be a common habit.

On a specific cloudy Saturday afternoon, he'd gotten bored of riding his scooter, that he got around the time of his 8th birthday a few months back, and threw it carelessly on the pavement. Nearby, he spotted a certain ginger striped cat grooming herself nearby a bush. He somewhat knew that this one belonged to the older lady next door. He didn't know her very well, but she had always sent Birthday and Christmas cards to him and his family.

He wandered over to pet the animal since he enjoyed how soft they usually were. This one was especially friendly, rubbing up against his hand as the boy sat down on the edge of the pavement. It didn't take long before it flopped on its back, exposing her belly to him. The boy happily pet it, though the cat quickly had enough and bit into his thumb, causing a quick bloody wound to open.

Conner yelped in pain and pulled his hand back, before overcoming with a blind anger and striking down on the animal, breaking at least one of its ribs. He was about the strike again before he heard the panicked yell of the owner who was watching him through the window during the entire event.

He backed away while she stormed outside, yelling words that he shut his ears off to, all he remembers is her face was red and fuming, though the words blurred into white noise. She raised her hand to smack the boy several times before demanding he get out of her sight or she would call the police. He muttered sorry as the adults always mentioned to say that, though she was listening to none of it, and he ran home at her order.

He felt alone that night, nothing in his room felt like it should, and he didn't understand what he was feeling as he lay sucking his wound. Something was rather empowering about hearing a creature yelp and scuttle off, especially those weaker.

He wanted to make what was on the screens...

It started again at age 19, when he saw that boy all alone, playing in the park without a care in the world, he did something he never thought he was capable of. He offered him friendship, but the small thing saw through his lies and ran from him as fast as his legs could carry him, such a shame he didn't go home, maybe he wasn't so clever after all.

It turned out he was the bosses ever so special son, and what a time to get involved in a franchise than supporting a grieving father. It's funny thinking that if that boy didn't run away, he would have never found that building in all his life. Of course, the man was blamed, he sold off the company, which led to a money grabbing hash of the original characters, and Conner hadn't heard from him since.

He never really enjoyed blood, and painting the walls with them would have been too difficult to get rid of in time, especially in a place that busy. The cake was made at home, and he filled it to the brim with bleach and other toxicities and even surprised himself with what lies the little ones would take to heart now he was disguised, and he hid them deep in the plumbing. Yet afterwards, a nagging sense of dissatisfaction nagged at him, it wasn't the same as that wriggling boy he throttled on that damp ground...

Yet, little Madilyn showing up out of the blue, was exactly was he needed. She was even already crying...

Whispers started up from the walls, and black liquid leaked from the scattered arms and torso, on the floor, and almost in a blink... grey blurs of the children appeared. His felt disturbed in looking at them backing away slightly knocking the torch onto the ground, they quickly avoided the light. Their eyes were stained with tears, but also a malicious intent sparked within them.

He backed away, feeling the breath of the stolen childhoods on his neck until he was up against the dusty remains of an unnameable console. Telling them to stay away was simply useless, as he had convinced himself he had finally gone mad, and they were merely images in his brain.

He climbed the spring-lock suit in a fit of blind rage and panic, wanting to finally show these menaces who was in control. The suit was torn up slightly more than usual, but he didn't care. It almost felt like it was part of his body, a part of him that assisted with whatever atrocities he wanted to commit. The bleak eyes that stared into them at the last moments of their lives disturbed them deep in their core, causing them to freeze.

The coils snapped shut, weakened by the rain that puddled on the ground. With a sickening thud, they dug into the man's flesh in the same way he inflicted on the others. The first pierced into his throat rendering him helpless to call for anything, ripping his entire body to shreds.

The monster fell soon fell limp, only the twitch of his fingers left, and the children cheered, as soon as the clock hit twelve.


End file.
